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Given another disappointing update from Research In Motion Ltd. on Friday morning, market observers might be forgiven if asking whether the newly launched Kindle Fire from Amazon.com has driven another nail in the company’s supposed coffin.

Prior to the opening bell, RIM RIMMCA: RIM issued some preliminary numbers for its quarter ended Nov. 26. Among the major disappointments was a further rout for the company’s PlayBook tablet, which shipped only 150,000 units to retailers during the period, which does not account for sales of the device to end users.

The company is taking a $485 million pre-tax charge for “inventory valuation” of the tablet, which likely includes some returns from sellers as well as some aggressive discounting that has pushed the price of the $500 device down to as low as $200 in some cases.

The launch of the Kindle Fire from Amazon.com AMZN last month likely hasn’t helped things for the PlayBook – but certainly was not the sole cause of the tablet’s disappointing reception on the market. Recall that RIM sold only 200,000 units of the device in the August quarter, which was less than half of Wall Street’s expectations for the tablet.

RIM’s tablet was seen as behind the curve from the start. It was priced on par with the lowest iPad from Apple Inc. AAPL, despite offering only a 7-inch touch-screen compared to the latter’s 10-inch size. Also, several software capabilities promised by RIM failed to materialize, such as the ability to run emails from associated BlackBerry smartphones through the tablet.

The Kindle Fire offers a 7-inch screen in a very similar form factor as the PlayBook, which has likely had the effect of setting a price ceiling on tablets in that range. The PlayBook and other 7-inch tablets will have to market themselves against Amazon’s large ecosystem of content that includes books, music and streaming movies as well as the Kindle’s close ties with its Prime shipping service. And the strategy seems to be working. HIS iSuppli released an estimate on Friday morning that the Kindle Fire is expected to take second place in the tablet market for the fourth quarter, with unit sales expected to total a market share of nearly 14% — surpassing the 5% expected by the next-closest iPad rival Samsung.

“Nearly two years after Apple Inc. rolled out the iPad, a competitor has finally developed an alternative which looks like it might have enough of Apple’s secret sauce to succeed,” iSuppi analyst Rhoda Alexander said in a statement. “ Initial market response strongly suggests that Amazon, with the Kindle Fire, has found the right combination of savvy pricing, astute marketing, accessible content and an appropriate business model, positioning the Kindle Fire to appeal to a brand-new set of media tablet buyers. The production plans make it clear that Amazon is betting big on the product.”

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